SQL 2005 Performance General Opinions

I haven't posted here in quite some time. I like the new site and miss you guys.

Now that SQL 2005 is out and a few months has gone by i would like to get the opinion of some DBA's on the specific benefits to upgrade to 2005 as related only to the improvements made within the Database engine and how it handles extra processors, memory, etc.

For example, if I were to upgrade the DB on the same machine, what performance increase (estimated) should I expect to see? Like if a job takes 1 hour now, it may take 50 minutes after the upgrade. Does hyperthreading help, etc.

I know this is a general question and it always "depends" (specifically on hardware and DB design) but I would like to get your initial reaction and opinion with regards to engine performance.

It might be still a bit early to judge on this. As I write this, the German launch event is about to happen. SQL Server 2000 is in a very matured stage of its life cycle, while SQL Server 2005 is new. Personally I haven't dealt with 2005 yet, but following postings on the different communities there seems to be a performance problem in SQL Server 2005 and some folks complain about the performance.

It is surprising that with all the buzz going on about SQL2005, that there were not more replies to this and there wasn't anyone ranting and raving about how incredible things have been with the new tool.

Well, there are improvements that are not directly performance related. On top of that, afaik, many companies don't see new features as something that will significantly improve processing of current server and some companies are waiting for the first service pack.

Actually I'm a bit suprised too. With all that marketing hype about 2005, there are yet very few questions, comments... about the new version to find in online communities. But one thing which is noteable is, that MS support seems to closely watch those postings and step in much more in such threads as in similar threads related to 2000.